Finger Drives for IR Wafer Processing Equipment Conveyors and Lateral Differential Temperature Profile Methods

摘要

A new class of work-piece conveyors, comprising zero-mass, shadow-less transport systems, with a drive having a pair of parallel, laterally spaced, movable chains defining a processing path, with fingers projecting transversely toward the process path centerline. The gap between fingers eliminates conveyor tube/rod supports, improving wafer quality and conserving energy. Implementations include wire chain, band and roller chain transports to which fingers are secured. Fingers are angled down so that the intersection of the bottom and side edges of the work-piece make only point contacts with each finger. A pair of finger chains implement a single lane drive; adding center bilateral finger drive chains with oppositely pointing fingers implement a multi-lane system. The inventive method includes individually configurable processing temperature profiles in side-by-side lanes, on a zone-by-zone, upper and lower half basis for broad processing flexibility. A novel transducer-based lamp-voltage control system provides stable lamp power for precise temperature control.